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Fighting over a Wal-Mart and the meaning of Roxbury
By adamg on Thu, 09/01/2011 - 9:06am
Wal-Mart hasn't even said yet it's moving to Dudley Square, but the fight has already started, Chris Faraone reports:
On one side of the battle are residents who are anxious for both work and bargains. In the opposition, there's Mayor Tom Menino, along with a number of lawmakers and a small army of activists. They claim that Dudley is already en route to recovery, and that the area's fragile economic ecosystem would crumble in the shadow of the world's biggest retailer.
And then there's the beast itself. In response to declining revenues at its suburban Supercenters, Walmart has increasingly targeted the urban poor in places like Chicago. Accustomed to getting what it wants, in this case the company hired Nicholas Mitropoulos, an old pal of the mayor, as an advisor, and donated fat sums to local nonprofits — including one headed by a politically influential member of the Roxbury Strategic Master Plan Oversight Committee.
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Comments
Great quote, Mr. Murphy
Yes, government in secret is always better, Mr. Murphy...
But, seriously? You think a public meeting will "scare off" Wal-Mart?? 1) You're not that important. You are a bug to them...we all are. 2) We are the consumer. We have the money. If they want it, then they have to jump through the hoops. Have you EVER known Wal-Mart to leave money on the table? Get real. They want the Boston area market. They're not going to be "scared off" but a public hearing...and if they are, then good riddance. They would have spooked and ran leaving a giant hole in Dudley over something equally as impotent and meaningless. We'd be better off weeding out that sort of weakness up front.
Mr. Murphy, feel free to campaign on that statement: "We are better off doing government behind closed doors."
He is campaigning on that
This is the same Mr. Murphy who said in a city council debate that he loves the strong mayor system, so at least he's consistent in his believe that decisions should be made in secret based on back-scratching and hand-greasing.
shakedown
"To hone that message, last month Hizzoner, along with Jackson and about 50 others, convened at the Haley House Café — a testament to Dudley's promising landscape in its own right — to voice their growing concerns. Members of that initial group — all of whom are hostile to Walmart entering the area — have continued to meet since then, organizing around efforts to at least get the company to negotiate its terms of entry."
I'm guessing this is all just posturing by Menino et al. Walmart will promise to use union construction and donate to foundations X Y and Z, and they'll be allowed to build their store. Which I suppose is what we want our elected officials to do, maximize value for constituents...
upswing?
here's an example of the businesses that are (were) thriving in Dudley.
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/29046950/deta...
Dudley Square
Not exactly Dudley Square -- at least not the commercial area of Dudley which is what I think people are talking about.
None of these people ever
None of these people ever take the T and see riders holding Target bags full of toys, home goods and bulk purchase diapers apparently. Having a Walmart nearby would be a good thing, people like stores with big selections and low prices. It would be a big help to working mothers who depend on public transit to have access to a big box discounter in their neighborhood. Dudley's retail is never gonna turn into anything special for reasons that have nothing to do with Walmart. The city needs to stop dictating where people can spend their money. I'd shop there and so would most people, just like we sometimes go to the Target in South Bay.
Gov'ts rolt picking businesses?
On the one hand, I really prefer local businesses to huge chains, especially Walmart whose stores I can't stand. On the other, I don't think it's the government's job to pick and choose which businesses are allowed to open in the city.
An urban neighborhood should have smaller stores without huge parking lots, and requiring this *is* a city's prerogative. Maybe they should just rezone the areas Walmart might build on, to encourage old-fashioned mixed-use urban streetscapes. That would make these redeveloped areas as pleasant as existing neighborhoods, and might stop Walmart in the process.
For it or against it
Why does government get to decide? If they are obeying all the existing laws and not looking for any changes to zoning etc., why should they be prohibited from doing business here? If they break laws - as cited in the article - there are penalties for that.
The deciding factor should not be Wal Mart or no Wal Mart - the deciding factor should be if we would allow Target or Best Buy to do the exact same thing, then Wal Mart is welcome.
This is like the MLB rules committee telling the Yankees - you obeyed all the rules but a lot of the fans don't like you and you already have 27 rings so you can't win the World Series any more.
Agree
This sort of nanny state NIMBY BS is wrong and hurts us all.
And it's not dependent on ideology, both parties do it on the local level.
Make them comply with MA wage laws, MA healthcare laws, OSHA, unions if they want to unionize, ect. Then let people decide if they want to support them.
enforce the laws on the books, don't try to dictate who what and where.
I'm with Darnell Williams and
I'm with Darnell Williams and the pro Walmart forces on this one.
Why should we wait on Menino and his city council to deliver in Dudley? They've been promising better things there for almost two decades and— while I dont doubt their intentions— they have been VERY slow to deliver. Nice thing about business interests like this is they won't dawdle.
As for the small businesses, it'll force them to step up their game too. Menino's the one that went out personally to court and bring Target to So Bay. Why is this any different?
It's not such a bad thing to have competition. City Hall greased the skids to get the Kroc Center onto Dudley Street- that's the equivalent of a mega-non profit that will force all the other social services in the neighborhood to improve or die. Some of them won't survive and others will. That's life.
And if the labor folks want to use their muscle to keep Walmart honest on wages, educate shoppers, etc. - fine. But let's give the consumers some love here too. We're getting killed at the register nowadays and bringing in some competition will be a good move. Most of us aren't under union protection and won't ever be.
Where is the local Walmart
The government has been deciding all along what happens in Dudley most likely. Have you noticed how there are no chains there now?
The question for me is why, if there is a demand for Walmart-like quality and products, the local businesses haven't been able to expand enough to provide it.
Who's saying it isn't that way?
Wal-Mart isn't palling around with the City Council and lobbying them and everything else because they get to decide if Wal-Mart moves in or not. They are trying to get concessions like reduced taxes, exemptions from labor laws, or whatever else they can extract to defer costs and increase profits (if they're not, then why haven't they already opened the store yet?).
It's not like there's an unwritten rule about opening Wal-Marts in Boston as you seem to infer. However, if it's not profitable enough up front for them to want to open one, then they're going to have to grease enough palms to get what they need from the city to make it profitable.
good question
Not sure what the hold up is but:
a) haven't heard a peep about Wal Mart asking for concessions and given that there is so much political opposition just to them coming into the city I would guess that very few local pols could get away with giving them tax breaks and incentives without destroying their political career.
b) my guess is that this will qualify for Article 80 process as a large project which means basically the BRA and zoning have broad leeway over what gets built or if it even gets built. Wal Mart and/or their developer isn't going to commit the resources to this until it's a done deal. If the mayor wants this done - it could happen almost tomorrow. If the mayor wants it to be a hole in the ground it'll stay that way.
There's a reason you haven't heard a peep
Check the linked article. They've been meeting behind closed doors...and just like you say, concessions would be political suicide around here. Murphy wants to keep that door closed as long as possible so that when they all come to an agreement, they can toss out a few meaningless press releases and just act like their deal is "what the people want".
Go away.
http://news.yahoo.com/usa-becomes-food-stamp-natio...
not a fan of Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart prices are not that cheap... once they get a foothold in a community and eliminate the competition they raise their prices. Do they pay living wages? No. I have a few die-hard Republican friends who were big Wal-Mart supporters until one and then another and then another moved into their town within a few miles of each mega location. Prices aren't cheap any longer, they paved over beautiful farmland, caused traffic backups where there previously were none, and they DO NOT PAY TAXES TO THE TOWN. Who wins? Wal-Fart.
if I never see another Wal-Mart again in my life
it'll be too soon.
Can't say . . .
. . . I have much personal shopping experience of Walmart. Went to one in upstate New York and got a local high school football team T-Shirt- only to be told by the locals at a diner nearby that the shirt was the wrong color and the team's name was not the Eagles as that was the animal displayed on the shirt- and it was a generic "local" shirt made in China with just the name of the towns changed.
I don't know- I go to Target once in while at South Bay to get a few do dads when I'm feeling particularly lazy and don't want to walk to the True Value in the North End.
I'm sure Walmart misses your
I'm sure Walmart misses your business.
DUDLEYS BACK
Dudley is coming back do to the great work done by the community and cops working together as opposed to the infighting that has left Downtown crossing a ghost town